Anyone else annoyed by loud mechanical keyboards in open plan office setting? Like the loudest variety. In my team most people seem to be ok with them or decide not to speak up. I find them horribly distracting if I can hear them over in-ear headphones playing music (e.g. between songs). Would noise cancelling headphones help? Edit: the keyboard in question has Cherry MX green switches.
Yes they are distracting. People are scared to speak up because they are usually used by arrogant pretentious people.
I put O-rings on my Brown switches to dampen the sound and asked my coworkers if they had any issues with it, and they said it didn’t bother them.
It would be nice if all mechanical keyboard users were as considerate. In my experience most will try to spin the discussion to me being too sensitive and how their right for keyboard feel is more important than quiet work environment.
This keyboard has Cherry MX green switches. Looks like these are as loud as blues.
Not at all. I use quieter mechanical switches myself out of courtesy. Consider this: there are more factors. Everyone complains about mechanicals but they are loudest when you bottom out constantly, which people with meat fingers can't really help. But if you bottom out constantly even a cheap Logitech can sound kind of loud. Hell, there are plenty of louder keyboards that are not mechanical out there. Honest to God though it sounds like you need to grow a pair and talk to your neighbors instead of posting on Blind about it. Most people with mechanical keyboards probably just don't like spongy feeling keys. They can dampen the switches with O-rings or something and it'd probably be fine.
I do have a pair and I already talked to the colleague in question. He tried to spin it like it's my fault, "I never had complaints before", he'll look into a quieter keyboard as he doesn't own one if things don't work out on my side etc. This keyboard is definitely the loudest around. Bottoming out on cheap keyboards can't create so much noise. Other colleagues nearby have quiet mechanical keyboards and they are not distracting at all. It's just this one super clicky that's an issue
It seems like you're in the right direction. I'd just escalate it if they really don't want to fix the problem. They do not need to get a new keyboard, dampening the keys would be sufficient.
Sorry, I can't hear you over my Model M.
Then you should probably get a quieter keyboard since it's affecting your ability to communicate with people
Nah.
People lose ability to block background noise with age. You reached that age limit (different for everyone) and no longer fit for open plan factory floor. Consider plan b: manager role with noise cancelling office, or plan c: downshift into human friendlier environment.
Source?
Isn't it ridiculous... Oh well. If you can't beat them, join them
In open space, I'd consider it disrespectful. The person needs to get a quieter keyboard.
In between songs? So 1 to 2 seconds every 3 to 5 minutes and it annoys you this much? Lol. I have a mechanical but I intentionally made sure to not get blues for my peers comfort
It also breaks through many songs which are "stop and go". For the rest, I have to crank up the volume to levels that are not healthy for my hearing in the long run.
If you can hear that much, you need better head phones. Not for louder sound but a decent pair will not let that sounds through. Invest in a good pair. It's worth it
No, I have several peers right next to me that use mechanical keyboards with blues as well as myself. Hell, IT have me a keyboard with blues the first week. If anything I might get a realforce, but my current keyboard would have to break for that to happen.
Maybe it gets better if everyone is using noisy keyboards instead of only one person sticking out, because the noise becomes more uniform and thus easier to filter out even though it's really noisier
Same here. I wish more offices would ban them.
Or ban open office environments